Hisar Ravens Robotics Club attended the Turkish First Robotics Competition (FRC) “Kick-Off Day” on September 30 at Şişli Vocational & Technical High School. Last year was our first time to participate in this event. This year our team was not only participants, but we also were a part of the organisation team.The team led various workshops at their stand and in the conference room for first-time participants: the “Rookie” groups. Three members from our team explained and demonstrated how to setup the chassis to the new teams that hadn’t receive their FRC kits yet. One student from our electronics team demonstrated how the electronic system was setup last year, and one from our programming team explained the process of programming in LabView. At first, our team addressed groups of 20, but with the growing interest, they presented their work one final time to over a hundred people of both new and experienced teams. It was a very proud moment for everyone on the team for although they had only one year of experience at this conference, they were already leading such important activities at such a large scale. Soon after, all participants excitely gathered for the main event, which was to hear the competition would be conducted.

We wish to thank the host of the Kick-Off, Şişli Vocational & Technical High School and the Fikret Yüksel Foundation. Please visit the links below to watch this fun and productive event and all our other work.

Hisar Ravens Robotics Club also joined 14 other schools to attend the “Ready! Set! Go! FRC Quick Start Weekend” on October 2 at Şişli Vocational & Technical High School. The team gave workshops all day long to “Rookie” groups as they were participating for the first time in the FRC. Our workshops were held simultaneously in three different venues and our team members shared their knowledge on Electronics, Programming and Mechanics with new teams. In the mechanics workshop, the basic installation of the robot was completed in a day. This phase normally takes 2 weeks, but was done in one day with our support. In the electronics workshop, we first introduced and explained in detail the electronic parts that were included in the kit both last year and this year. Then, we did a sample cabling kit setup with the teams who already had their kits and also built circuits ready to work.

Our workshop on Programming was held in the conference room and followed a similar method of training. We gave a seminar on how the programming language, LabView, essential for FRC, was programmed and put into practice. Through the workshops and all the other work we did, we were able help many teams in areas where it is difficult to find Turkish resources. By the end of the day, all schools that participated in the Sunday workshops received detailed training on the three main subjects vital for building a robot. We set up WhatsApp groups so that we could continuing helping anyone who wanted it, and they have been used intensely since day one. The delightful day ended with a closing meeting where brief information was presented on FRC’s held in America and Turkey, followed by a Q&A session.

We wish to thank Şişli Industrial Vocational High School for having us. Please visit the links below to watch this fun and productive event and all our other work.

Hisar Ravens YouTube Channel

Hisar Ravens Instagram: hisarravens